Samples, Samples

Hello there...just thought'd I'd come to everyone here with a question about my first Adagio order!

Already decided on a PersonaliTea and a nice glass teacup. I was looking through the samples, and since i've never done this myself, I decided to come here. I'd rather not just get an oolong, black, or green sample, so I figured it would be better to choose the best of each, so that I may get a taste of everyone.

Victoria wrote:Edit: oh there are a couple on eBay if you really want one,search: 21oz teapot

Humm. Is the built in strainer really all that useful? I'd even thought about one of those nice kyusu, but they're so expensive (from what i've seen). Plus, I have a certain fondness for simple, white porcelain. I'm just so tired of my gigantic flower covered teapot my mother got me for display. It drips everywhere and smells.

The Den's is a great pot, you could adjust down with smaller cups. The white pot, you can either use the mesh infuser basket or just put the leaves loose in the pot and then pour through the mesh basket as a strainer. If you it this way though you will need another cup or mug, as you can't let the leaves sit int the pot. By the way it does have straining holes on the inside of the pout to hold back big leaves.

Corona wrote:Those do look rather nice. Just a bit confused on the screen on the black one, if someone could help -

A note on "the black one" -- I just recently ordered the black kyusu (the Kokoro) from Den's. What I received seems to be almost some sort of hybrid of the pots listed on the site (the label on the box did say it was the Kokoro). The color is a deep blue, probably closest to the Yutori, however it does not have the gold "pinstripe" that you see on the lid of the Yutori. If you look closely at the pictures of the Kokoro, you'll see that it fades to a lighter shade of gray towards the center of the lid, and on the top of the handle; my pot does have this fading, the pictures on Den's site don't seem to show this fading on the other pots. So far, it just sounds like my Kokoro is a dark blue rather than black, but now another difference, my pot has the wrap-around obi-ami screen that you see in the pictures of the other two pots, not the spout screen pictured with the Kokoro.

So what I seem to have is a Kokoro, in dark blue rather than black, with a wrap-around screen rather than the spout screen. I'm perfectly happy with it, it's a great little pot, but I was a bit surprised when it arrived. If you care about any of this, might want to call Den's on the phone before ordering a pot.

By the way, if you're a first time Den's customer, they have a green tea sampler for $3 that entitles you to $3 off your first order of $15 or more. So if you order the $19 pot, you can essentially get the tea sampler for free. A nice way to get started with a pot and a variety of tea.

Interesting, you should contact them so they are made aware of the conflicting information. I am certain they would appreciate the info! The owner, Den, is very conscientious and will likely reply personally.

The Kokoro does look like very deep blue in the photo, even though it says black in the description. And the screen is wrong like you said.

Still it is a very functional, bomb proof kyusu, and fortunately you did not spend 50 bucks or more on an artisan piece (plus 20+ $ on shipping from Japan) that you had your heart set on ...

Yeah Chip, looking back at the photo online at Den's, and having my pot in hand, I can see that the online picture does look a bit blue. It may be a pretty accurate representation of the true color of the pot (as accurate as images on the computer screen can be). The shading is WAY more evident on the "real life" pot; in the online image it can easily be mistaken for glare.

Good idea, I will send them a note about the screen. I do love the pot, a great size for me and I don't think I could have found a better starter pot. Didn't make any difference to me what screen I got, but Den's will probably want to update their description if all of the Kokoro pots are now coming with the wrap-around screen.